There’s no questioning the move of Jimmy Fennig as Edwards’ new crew chief. Fennig won six races the past two seasons with Matt Kenseth, including the 2012 Daytona 500, and now has a win in his second race with Edwards.

Putting Edwards with Kenseth’s former team was a way of putting the onus on Edwards to get the job done.

Now Edwards knows he can and it could be a good year for the No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing team.

Passing still hard at Phoenix

It always has been tough to pass at the flat, 1-mile Phoenix track.

That was no different Sunday in the first non-restrictor-plate race with NASCAR’s new Sprint Cup car. There were only four green-flag lead changes in the 316-lap race and all came in the first 126 laps.

Denny Hamlin went from the rear of the field to finish third, but even he admitted he didn’t pass many cars on the track.

Hamlin made just one four-tire pit stop all day.

“I hate to be Denny downer, but I just didn't pass that many cars today,” Hamlin said. “That's the realistic fact of it.

“You look and we started 40 something, we finished third and you think that we just motored our way through the pack, and that's just not the case of what happened.”

Brad Keselowski, who finished fourth, said the new Gen-6 car runs well by itself but still is a handful in traffic.

“It’s harder than ever to pass,” Keselowski said. “You have to be really good. The cars are so aero sensitive.

“But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try. … These cars are a big step forward in a lot of ways. I’d like to see them be a little bit better in traffic.”

NASCAR officials have to like one thing they saw on Sunday — the first six spots went Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota. That’s a sign of manufacturer parity, which NASCAR was hoping to achieve with the new car, which has more brand identity for each manufacturer.

Teams will get more time to work on their cars this week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where there is a full day of open testing before the race weekend begins Friday.

That will be a key test as teams will be allowed full telemetry on their cars during Thursday’s test.

Hopefully teams can work on how their car handles in traffic. NASCAR put too much work and promotion into the new car to have only four green-flag passes for the lead.

Fans miss a view

Fans watching Sunday’s race on TV noticed that there were no views from cameras on the roof of the cars.

That’s because there were no cameras on the roof of the cars.

NASCAR has decided to ban the roof cams on the 2013 Cup cars for races everywhere except short tracks, road courses and restrictor-plate races.

NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said that the leader possibly had an advantage in clean air in part because the camera created turbulent air for the car running second.

The decision wasn’t the most popular with the networks, but it is something that the teams suggested to NASCAR.

“We’ve actually seen that in the wind tunnel,” Hamlin crew chief Darian Grubb said. “It dirties the air up for the guy behind (the leader).

“It seems to be the right direction but nobody tests in the wind tunnel with two cars in line. We don’t know that for sure. But in theory, it’s better.”